After Opposing Stimulus, Lindsey Graham Will Take The Money

Oh, Lindsey Graham, he is one of our favorites! The South Carolina Senator has, for weeks, cast himself as one of the stimulus package's most fervent opponents. This time last week, he and John McCain were in the well of the Senate, performing a grand duetto buffo di due gatti against the stimulus, and when the media metanarrative required that someone take a ream of paper and wave it around in the air with dramatic flair, Graham was only too happy to accommodate.

Ah, but now the bill's passage draws nigh, and lest you think he was going to school us all by allowing South Carolina to become a laboratory for whatever the hell economic plan he thought would work better, guess again. Graham will take the dollars, thank you, even if he's not convinced it will be of any good! Or so he told Wolf Blitzer:

BLITZER: South Carolina will get money out of this bill.

GRAHAM: Yes.

BLITZER: Should South Carolina take the money?

GRAHAM: I think that, yes, from my point of view, I -- you don't want to be crazy here. I mean, if there's going to be money on the table that will help my state, but I've got a job to do up here, and that is to try to help people and not damn the next generation. We had a $415 billion package to help people who have lost their jobs, that cut taxes, that create new jobs. We've got a spending bill, not a job creation bill. And we're being all things to all people.

Shucks, Lindsey, if you don't think it'll do South Carolina any good, by all means, don't take it!

Comments

[realpolitic]

Man, after relentlessly opposing the Stimulus Bill as "wasteful spending," he admits the spending bill will "help his state." That's a good idea- all Congressmen opposed to the stimulus bill should just forfeit their state's share of the money! Then see how many vote against it!

[Oonagh]

Phony...

[FrazeC]

there are many words that describe this man, some of which are quite rude....bu­t the one that comes to mind right now is "HYPOCRIT"­....he wants his fellow conservatives to "do as I say" and "not as I do"....if he truly believed this would hurt the country, then he should surely want NO part in contributing to the "disaster" he predicts..­...sheeees­h....

[HonorJusticeTruth]

Wasn't Graham's question about being crazy retorical? Even lunatics will take the money and run, no matter how hypocritical it may seem. After all, even in South Carolina a politician who endorses public suffering may not get reelected.

[EmberOfTruth]

"I demand to see the manager! The prices at this restaurant are outrages, and in these tough economic times I can't sit idly by and watch the taxpayer's money be squandered!! Er, what's that? Oh you’re paying! In that case... I’ll have the wagyu filet migon with the slow roasted rock pheasant and tell the waiter to bring the wine list.”

[Topsailsman]

and he WHINE list too. Good post.

[traveler501]

personally, I was hoping they would only target states whose Senators and Representatives supported the darn thing. I thought Obama talked about clenched fists and open fists...he­y,if the fist is closed, it's closed...t­ake a stand, and live with it.

[iburl]

Lindsay (haw haw) needs to get laid to loosen up a little.... So, what will it be, Lindsay >phhht< male or female? I don't want to hear about you gettin' busy in the airport bathroom like Larry Craig. Let it all out, Lindsay, and maybe you won't be suck a pri*k to everyone anymore.

[sloreader]

He is sure as heck doing some toe tapping on the stimulus $$!

[truthtopower007]

Lindsey Graham's picture is under "hypocrite" in the dictionary.

[sloreader]

Wait, I looked under l@me@$$ and there he is!

[grf67]

What a hypocrite. The country doesn't need him.

[liberalOrgonian]

Unbelievable, first the repugs want tax cuts, then they want jobs, then jobs are not really jobs.
Then the clown Graham does a side show, McConnell states the new deal did not work, then McCain reached somewhere (not across any isle)to denounce the stim package. The chant of just say no is wafting out of Washington, and Rush announces he wants Obama (along with America) to fail. The head of the repug party is uninformed about what constitutes a job.
Do the repug want jobs for there constituents? I say not, just more problem making.
President Obama may be able to tolerate this malarkey, BUT Americans are sick to death of the BS we have been watching and hearing the repugs act out.
What is the repugs idea of how to get us out of this mess?
Oh yes, more tax cuts, jobs, no not jobs, just criticism.
Forgetting all along the repugs and Bush spend America into a debtor nation, and these same repugs helped him.
Surely they have some ideas of how to get us out of the mess they made.
This has the makings of a day time soap opera, or a very bad (made for TV) movie.

[SWissouri]

Is it just me or does anyone else think McCain and Lindsey have warmly chanted drill baby drill to each other for many years?

[jhw22]

LOL!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!! Thanks for that!

Jennifer

[greatlakesgirl]

Senator Graham, you are just another fat little dough boy in the wilderness. Yes, you are crazy and hate your theatrics. You are unworthy of any job, along with buddy McCain for your state and at capital.

[sloreader]

Someone should take his pudding away!

[solanus]

You are so right, I can't stand this man, he is very strange

[parise]

they are all scums in the rep party.lind­sey will take the money and so will the others because they have no shame.

[Vyvjala]

Graham is nothing but a little slack jawed weasel.

[blueberryhill]

Any senator who voted no on the stimulus should get 0 of the money. especially the likes of him.

[dcree77]

It's very confusing to consider this great plan that Graham talked about. You, the one where he is going to give tax cuts to all of the unemployed South Carolinians. Exactly how does a tax cut for income earned in 2009 benefit a person who is unemployed during the 2009 tax year? The tax cuts aren't retroactive. The Republicans cut out that part of the plan that would have given refundable tax credits to the people. If you don't have any income, you won't incur a tax obligation, therefore, you won't benefit from a tax cut. The republicans did include in their plan the waiver of a few months of the tax owed on unemployment benefits, but an average family of four would get any taxes paid on unemployment benefits back in a rebate anyway. It amounts to and gimmick without any genuine benefit. Just fodder for their base.

[darleneslee]

There is a method to their madness. If the bail fails they can tell their constituents, I told you so and bad mouth the democrats. If it succeeds they can tell their constituents that they have improved their lives and that's the reason to keep them in office. The rethugs see this as a win-win.